|
Summaries of B-66 Reunions
It takes no advance money, very little planning and will be a huge success. Just pick out some names of guys that live near you and meet at a nearby military O'Club for Sunday Brunch or some nice dining place that will give you a separate room or put a few tables together in the main dining room. We that have attended Washington, DC B-66 Mini-Reunion guarantee that a great time will be had by all. As an aside, did you know that four B-66 Warriors and their wives in the DC area get together four times a year for a real honest to gosh B-66 Mini-Mini Reunion. By the way, don't forget to send a brief recap so we can include it in this website. 2-4 October 2002 - 42nd Reunion, Spang/Chelveston 1954-57 Spang 42nd Group Reunion by Bill Skroch This is a recap of a magnificent 42nd Reunion in Charleston, SC this past Wednesday through Friday night. Willis (Bill) Skroch was in charge and he did an absolutely magnificent job. Some of our old crowd attending were as follows: John
Kennedy and eight year old son. Wednesday: Great arrival party in the Hospitality with groups going out for supper on the town. Thursday: Gathering for breakfast at the hotel and a boat ride and tour of Fort Sumpter; big Hospitality Party with those that could stand going out again on the town for dinner. Friday: Buggy ride Historic Charleston
Tour and shopping and lunch. Tour of the West Point of the South, The Citadel.
Guest of honor seats for the Friday afternoon parade Citadel Corp of Cadets Parade
with recognition by the Commandant for the 42nd Squadron Warriors who were honored
guests -- special chairs at the reviewing stand. Concluding marching band selection
was God Bless America. Farewell formal dinner buffet party at the hotel and lots
of sadness, as all departed until the next reunion to be held in 2004 in St. Louis,
MO. 6-7 October 2001 - Washington, DC - Mini-Reunion By Bill Starnes This past October
6th weekend, 37 B-66 Warriors and family members attended a most successful
Mini-Reunion. In addition to folks from the Washington, DC area, attendees drove from
Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. On Friday night, 13 met at the Andrews
O'Club for drinks and dinner. On Saturday morning, 18 gathered for breakfast at
the O'Club before driving (in the rain) to the Air Force vs Navy football game at
FedEx Field. Others joined us there for our 34 reserved seats right beside the Air
Force Academy Band and student section. The sun broke out to clear skies at pre-game time
as a Navy EA-6B and an A-6 flew overhead (about 200 feet above us). Air Force
won of course. That evening 20 gathered at the O'Club for refreshments and a short
drive to a great Italian Buffet selected by Charlie and Betty Porter. At 1100
hours on Sunday 26 gathered at the O'Club for reunion talk and the Sunday
Champagne Brunch. It was 1445 hours before we all departed. This was
the most successful of all Thanks to the planning group: Bill MacLaren, John
Rispoli, Charlie Porter, Paul Duplessis and Bill Starnes. Other B-66
Warriors that attended with their families included: Bob McCollum, AI
Fitzsimons, Dick Moore, Tom Fitzgerald, Walt Davis, 20-23
September - 355th Wing, Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ P.S. The A-10 and other components of the 355th Wing were deployed on the last day of the reunion (Sun. the 23rd). I don't know if any of our personal hosts have now gone into harms way for us, but wouldn't be surprised. Ray
Budworth (Radio Ray) TSgt, USAF, Retired 20-23 September - 355th Wing, Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ by Anne Budworth The reunion was a bunch of Air Force guys that were stationed at Takhli Royal Thai Air Base in Thailand during Vietnam war. Ray was there July '66 to July '67. This is the first meeting of these guys who were all there at various times so it was small to begin with (about 50 people attended) but they hope to grow it as more contacts are available. A program had been set up for us at Davis-Monthan (now the home of the 355th Wing that operated out of Takhli during Vietnam). Under the circumstances we would not have been surprised if our day at D-M had been canceled but it was not and they really rolled out the red carpet for us -- it was incredible! We attended the POW-MIA memorial in the morning (closed to the public this year due to heightened security on base). Then a "windshield" tour of the base via our chartered bus with a young female A-10 (known as the tank killer in Iraq) fighter pilot as our guide (if she is any example of our readiness, we are in good hands! ). We were given a hands-on demonstration of the pilots' night-vision goggles (absolutely astounding!). At the price of the goggles I was amazed they would allow us to touch them, let alone actually try them out. From there we went to the A-10 flight simulator and each got to "fly" an A-10 a bit. Instructor said I was a "natural" (but he didn't say natural what) and Ray managed to "land" 200 ft short of the runway. We then went to Wing HQ and were given a briefing by the Vice Wing Commander, Col. Hersey, on the mission and operation of the base. They also gave us each a wing coffee cup with a wing pin in it and a 30-mm shell casing (what the A-10s fire). You know our bunch of old fighter/bomber pilots, crew chiefs, etc., etc., were in hog heaven! We went to lunch at the O Club that was a deli-buffet, very nice and very good. The Vice Wing Commander, Col. Hersey, was our host (the commander wasn't on base or he would have hosted). He arranged seating so that 2 of his officers were seated at each table so conversation was lively. Cell phones and pagers started going off and officers were jumping up to leave the room to take their calls -- turned out the Col. told us the sniffer dogs at the base gates had alarmed to a truck making a delivery to the base. The truck had previously had a load of fireworks and of course the dogs immediately picked up the scent. After lunch our bus was taken out to the flight line where they had 3 aircraft open for us to go through, with their crews standing by to offer information and answer any questions. We were told we could take all the pictures we wanted OUTSIDE the planes, but none inside (of course!). There were 2 different C-130 configurations, one an electronic jammer (this is the replacement for our EB-66 jammers - it is a fact that this particular platform can shut down ALL communications over a several state area - by accident they did this over half the east coast) and the other a command & control center. They also had an A-10 which of course we couldn't walk through (no room) but had a ladder platform up to enable us to see inside the cockpit. They also sent an AF photographer out to stand atop a platform in order to get a group picture of all of us in front of the A-10. Our visit ended with about a 2-hour tour of the "bone yard" with another colonel, commander of the ARMARC as it's called now, as our tour guide. Think it is about 7000 acres. If it ever flew, it is probably out there somewhere! It isn't all scrap by any means, many of the planes are there in storage if they are needed again. This whole tour was, of course, arranged in advance with all of our names and other details provided to the base and our bus went through all the security precautions even with our military escort present before we were allowed entry to the base. Sniffer dogs, armed guards checking the bus inside and out, checking individual I.D.s, etc., etc. Capt. Jill ??? our fighter-pilot escort, was invited to come to our hotel for our banquet Saturday night. She arrived with her husband (AF helicopter pilot) and stayed till we were ALL ready for bed. She obviously had as good a time as we did and loved all the memorabilia the guys had brought and displayed in our hospitality room. She is ready to "kick a-- and take names"!! Saturday we did the Pima Air Museum. They opened up two of the F-105s for us to be able to get in and sit in the cockpit. One of our attendees was a former Wing Commander from Takhli (Col. Horgan) (after Ray was there). He was an F-105 pilot, probably now getting close to late 70's or maybe even early 80's in age, but still quite agile. One of his old crew chiefs was also in attendance so the guys got the Colonel into the cockpit and got pictures of him with his crew chief on the ladder beside him. He was tearing up as he got out of the cockpit and I heard him say something about being a "damned sentimental Irishman" and it bringing back a lot of memories.
Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved. | ||